I'm With You
by StarrNight
Summary: Based on Avril Lavigne's song. Aja's life was falling apart and there was one question she crucially needed answered. Sometimes desperate questions call for desperate measures. And sometimes desperate measures end in ice.


_Whoa. Holy cow._

_Someone's in the emo mood tonight!_

_It's Kuruk's fault! If he didn't write such amazing oneshots, I wouldn't be so inspired!_

_And no, there's no disclaimer. I hate them and it'd be stupid to assume that I own anything more than the old laptop I type this on._

_And this is based on the song "I'm With You," by Avril Lavigne._

_Review, please!_

**I'm With You**

_I'm standing on a bridge_

_I'm waiting in the dark_

_I thought that you'd be here by now._

Blinking back tears, Aja leaned on the railing of the tallest bridge in the city. All around her lights were twinkling, but they were garish in her sight against the inky, starless sky. She wiped, shamed, at a a tear running down her cheek.

Might have been a raindrop. It was hard to tell the difference.

She'd been so sure that they'd have come by now. That HE'D have come by now. After all, he'd once sworn his eternal love to her. But love…love was cheap these days.

You could buy it on any street corner.

Or if you were desperate enough…sell it.

_There's nothing but the rain_

_No footsteps on the ground_

_I'm listening but there's no sound._

One of the nicest things about a small town was that everyone had a certain affection for everyone else. One person's pain was the town's pain.

This city was dead. On the surface it was a web of life--lights and signs and people galore…but what was the use of borrowed vitality? The excitement could only feed a person's heart as long as the body's natural numbness lasted. When it all melted away…when frivolous and paid-for company lost its salt…then the city's true form showed. It was ice. Dead ice.

_Isn't anyone trying to find me?_

_Won't somebody come take me home?_

It had been a month. Not a call…not an investigation…hell, Aja would have welcomed a cheap "missing person" poster by now. To think Harris was even the chief of police.

A stiff wind blew.

_It's a damn cold night_

_I'm trying to figure out this life_

_Won't you take me by the hand_

_Take me somewhere new_

_I don't know who you are_

_But I…I'm with you_

It was a stupid thing to do. She didn't have sufficient money to live in the city for any length of time. Her parents never expected her to run away like she did.

They always thought she had more sense than that.

But between the divorce, her father's alcoholism, her mother's prescription drug dependence, and the new farmhand that everyone loved, a question had been growing in the recesses of Aja's mind.

If she disappeared…if she was lost…if she could be in danger…

Who would miss her?

_I'm looking for a face_

_I'm searching for a place_

_Is anybody here I know?_

_Cause nothing's going right_

_And everything's a mess_

_And no one likes to be alone._

Who would cry?

Who would be her savior?

Who would search through the night until they knew that she was safe and out of this cold world that was so cruel?

Wasn't there anyone who cared?

Didn't she matter?

Was it true?

Was she…alone?

_It's a damn cold night_

_I'm trying to figure out this life_

_Won't you take me by the hand _

_Take me somewhere new_

_I don't know who you are_

_But I…I'm with you_

Figures.

She couldn't even get into art school.

And of course Manna, her mother, was nosy enough to open the rejection letter before giving it to Aja so she could hide it properly.

And there was Harris.

Like she hadn't noticed all the time he was spending in the library these days.

All the new romance novels on his shelves.

The trace of lipstick on his collar.

It was a raspberry color--a glossy shade called "three-berry martini."

Mary's favorite.

_It's a damn cold night._

Her fingers were frozen stiff and blue. It was near Christmas time and it was getting hard to breathe in the teen-degree air.

_I'm trying to figure out this life._

Ann would be making thick, hot stews and steaming loaves of herb-studded breads. The town would smell like holly.

_Won't you take me by the hand_

_Take me somewhere new_

_I don't know who you are_

_But I…I'm with you_

The bridge railing was relatively low. It was easy to scramble onto, even with slowly freezing joints.

Mom would be making her famous orange creams.

Dad would be breaking into the non-virgin eggnog.

Harris…Harris would be spending the best night of his life with Mary.

Aja would never hear of the marriage announcement.

With her mind full of the memories of home and the sight of her mother's face, Aja curled precariously against the steel supporters of the bridge.

She was so numb with cold that she never felt herself slip from the wet edge.

Probably wouldn't have cared.

_I'm with you._

The rain turned to fluffy snow that night and froze the top of the river all the way to the banks.

It was white. White like her half-finished wedding dress. White like the wings of an angel.

And all the time she was one town away.

She'd never been one for long goodbyes, anyway.


End file.
